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 📍🔹THE UNSEEN 👁️‍🗨️ FACETS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM'S DARK SIDE 📊🌐🔹🔻

♦️🔹ABSTRACT🧾🔹🔻

🔸In Times of Growing Concerns About CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM Is Increasing. Whereas Several Studies Have Examined Associations Between ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM and the Big Five Personality Characteristics, the Potential “DARK SIDE” of Environmental Activists' Personality Has Been Neglected. Accordingly, This Study Examined Associations Between Environmental Activism, the Dark Triad Traits (i.e., MACHIAVELLIANISM, PSYCHOPATHY, NARCISSISM), and Left-Wing Authoritarianism (i.e., ANTIHIERARCHICAL Aggression, ANTICONVENTIONALISM, Top-Down Censorship). 

🔸DATA Came from 839 Employed Individuals in Germany. Results Showed Positive Associations Between Environmental Activism and Machiavellianism, NARCISSISM, ANTIHIERARCHICAL Aggression, and ANTICONVENTIONALISM. 

🔸Most of These Associations Remained Significant After Controlling for Big Five Characteristics, DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, POLITICAL ORIENTATION, and RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM. These Findings Suggest That Environmental Activism, in Addition to Its Potential Positive Outcomes, May Also Have a DARK SIDE in Terms of Activists' Personality.

♦️🔹INTRODUCTION🌐📋🔹🔻

🔸In times of growing concerns about climate change, an increasing number of people engage in environmental activism. Environmental activism involves collective civic actions that impact environmental issues, focus on SYSTEM-LEVEL changes, and go beyond personal practices, such as recycling (ALISAT & RIEMER, 2015). Environmental activism can have significant effects on environmental improvement (e.g., reduction in CO2 emissions; PACHECO-VEGA & MURDIE, 2020). Thus, it is important to understand which individual differences are associated with this behavior.

🔸 The resulting knowledge could be used for recruiting, developing, and motivating activists. Whereas several studies have examined associations between the Big Five personality characteristics and environmental activism (e.g., SOUTTER et al., 2020; TERRIER et al., 2016), the potential “DARK SIDE” of environmental activists' personality has been neglected. The goal of this study, therefore, was to examine associations between environmental activism and two sets of aberrant personality constructs – the DARK TRIAD and LEFT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM –, above and beyond the Big Five characteristics. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by advancing knowledge on individual differences associated with environmental activism.

🔸The DARK TRIAD includes three interrelated, yet distinct, personality traits (see PAULHUS & WILLIAMS, 2002): First, Machiavellianism involves the tendencies to manipulate and deceive others, to form alliances, and to assume leadership of groups to achieve one's goals and to pursue one's interests. Second, narcissism entails EXPLOITATIVENESS and ENTITLEMENT, SELF-ABSORPTION and ARROGANCE, as well as leadership and authority. Finally, psychopathy is characterized by callousness, lack of empathy, and impulsivity (PAULHUS & WILLIAMS, 2002).

🔸I propose that Machiavellianism is positively related to environmental activism. Forming alliances and leadership are likely effective strategies in the context of environmental activism, which involves convincing other people to change their environmental attitudes and behaviors (ALISAT & RIEMER, 2015). Similarly, there should be a positive association between NARCISSISM and ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM, particularly due to narcissists' tendencies regarding moral superiority and authority (i.e., influencing other people to prioritize the environment).

🔸 Furthermore, according to the “DARK-EGO-VEHICLE principle,” people with high levels of the DARK TRIAD traits tend to participate in activism not (only) to improve society or the environment, but to satisfy their EGO-FOCUSED needs. That is, activism “provide[s] them with opportunities to obtain positive self-presentation (e.g., virtue signaling), gain status, dominate others, and engage in social conflicts to get their thrills” (BERTRAMS & KRISPENZ, 2023, p. 1). Consistently, these authors showed that narcissism was positively related to ANTI-SEXUAL assault activism among women. Additional support for my propositions comes from a study showing positive associations between the DARK TRIAD traits and other forms of activism, including corporate social responsibility as well as normative (e.g., joining boycotts, attending demonstrations) and non-normative (e.g., blocking streets, destroying property) political actions (ROGOZA et al., 2022). 

🔸Research has also linked the DARK TRIAD traits to higher support for violent political activism (e.g., PHYSICAL ATTACKS, VANDALISM; Bélanger et al., 2023; GØTZSCHE-ASTRUP, 2021; PAVLOVIĆ & WERTAG, 2021). Finally, a recent study found that status consumption and praise from others mediated the positive relations between the dark triad traits and organic food purchase intentions and willingness to pay for organic foods (KONUK & OTTERBRING, 2024). Furthermore, virtue signaling mediated the relations between NARCISSISM and MACHIAVELLIANISM, but not PSYCHOPATHY, and the two organic consumption outcomes. In contrast to MACHIAVELLIANISM and NARCISSISM, I did not expect a link between psychopathy and environmental activism due to the typically non-violent nature of environmental activism (ALISAT & RIEMER, 2015).

📍🔹HYPOTHESIS I 👁️‍🗨️🔎🔹🔻

🔸ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM is POSITIVELY related to (A) MACHIAVELLIANISM and (B) NARCISSISM.

🔸The relatively new construct of left-wing authoritarianism, which complements the WELL-ESTABLISHED construct of RIGHT-WING authoritarianism (ALTEMEYER, 1981), also consists of three interrelated, yet distinct, dimensions (see COSTELLO et al., 2022): First, ANTIHIERARCHICAL aggression entails the beliefs that rich and powerful people should be DISEMPOWERED, that the established societal order should be overthrown, and that extreme actions, such as property damage and violence, are justified to achieve superordinate goals. Second, ANTICONVENTIONALISM involves the repudiation of traditional values, moral absolutism with regard to progressive values, dismissing conservative people as immoral, and a desire for homogeneity regarding political opinions within one's social group. Finally, TOP-DOWN censorship refers to individuals' preferences regarding the use of governmental and institutional authority to suppress opposition and to ban speech that is considered intolerant and offensive (COSTELLO et al., 2022).

🔸We propose that beliefs reflecting ANTIHIERARCHICAL aggression are more strongly represented among individuals who show higher levels of ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM, which aims at SYSTEM-LEVEL changes (ALISAT & RIEMER, 2015). Similarly, ANTICONVENTIONALIST tendencies should be positively related to environmental activism, which intends to change the societal status quo to mitigate the consequences of climate change and to foster environmental sustainability. MILFONT and OSBORNE (2023) argued that, “To enact change, individuals championing environmental causes tend to be political activists and, as such, may accept submission to perceived established authorities who champion such causes” (P. 7). Consistently, they showed that LEFT-WING authoritarianism was positively related to universalism values (e.g., environmental protection), climate change beliefs, as well as intentions to engage in individual and collective PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL actions.

🔸 Further support for Our propositions comes from studies showing that LEFT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM is positively related to other forms of activism, including the support of, and participation in, protests against racialized police violence (COSTELLO et al., 2022) and intentions to pursue social justice related activities (KRISPENZ & BERTRAMS, 2023). In contrast to ANTIHIERARCHICAL aggression and ANTICONVENTIONALISM, I expected no association between top-down censorship and environmental activism, because activists demonstrate against national governments and other authorities and, thus, should not be in favor of suppressing opposition.

📍🔹HYPOTHESIS II 🔎👁️‍🗨️🔹🔻

🔸Environmental activism is positively related to (A) ANTIHIERARCHICAL aggression and (B) ANTICONVENTIONALISM.

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